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Babson Business: Celtra Inc. (www.funkycall.com)

What is a FunkyCall?-— FunkyCall is a mobile entertainment community portal that enables cell phone users to send pre-recorded voice content to any mobile or landline phones in the form of a call.

FunkyCalls, Greetings, and Invitations are the main categories on FunkyCall.com community web portal, where users can listen, browse, share, upload, and send prerecorded calls for free. Community created content stored in the play list with its search functionality is the central part of the FunkyCall service.

Mission:  To become the largest online community in voice messaging in the world!

Began: Soft launch in Jan. '07.  http://www.funkycall.com/index.php?id=1

Initial Investment: $200,000

Where:  USA

Founders Names (MBA Students):

Maja Drolec; maja.drolec@celtra.com

Mihael Mikek; mihael.mikek@celtra.com 

Cambridge, MA  617-909-1526

Founder's Past Life/Business: (Maja) CRM for mobile telecommunications; head of marketing at largest exporting company in Slovenia (gaming industry).

How the Idea Began: (Maja) In Europe, mobile entertainment is really big.  My partner and I are both early adopters when it comes to the useful new technologies.  We believe there is an untapped market in mobile entertainment.

Initial Preparation to Germinate Idea:  It grew gradually, but constantly…and is still developing and improving! We are building a platform that will allow community and participants to tell us how and where FunkyCall shall be shaped.  We are focusing on a platform that is both flexible and fast in responding to the needs of the social community.

Favorite Thing about the Business:  It has unlimited growth potential within the mobile industry.  Starting with entertainment, then voice messaging—what FunkyCall is–and moving on into video messaging to become one of the first to bring relevant advertising to mobile phones.

Biggest Challenge: To populate the community portal from scratch and get the word-of-mouth starting.

Lesson Learned:  It is important to get your business started even if you don't feel ready, but be prepared to perpetually learn, improve, and innovate along the way.